Remainers

An Unusual Pair, Part 2

Caleb climbed through a thick brush, pushing aside branches and leaves as he forced himself through a forest growing wildly across what was once the American Midwest. Normally, Caleb wouldn't bother to trudge through such thick vegetation, but since his destination was only a half mile away, a mild surge of impatience made him push forwards in a straight line.

There were a number of reasons for this impatience. Over the last few years, Caleb had slowly grown weary of Computer's constant supervision, and would rather busy himself with remainer work, something Computer was also loath to give often. He knew that this was because he was human, and therefore less able to do many of the things other remainers could, though Computer would neither admit it nor see any wrong with its treatment.

He was also annoyed with being told to go all the way to headquarters. Normally, Computer would just talk to Caleb through the relay tower if it really needed to, but for some reason, this time Computer had insisted that he come all the way to headquarters, a journey that would take him far from the current job he was working on.

Nevertheless, a direction from Computer was absolute, and while Caleb wasn't wired to follow all of its directives, he knew he wouldn't get any remainer work at all if he ignored it. And so, he continued to trudge through the thick brush, hoping to arrive at remainer headquarters before night fell.

After another hour or so of travel, Caleb stood before a great building known only to him as the remainer headquarters. He had only been here once before, as he often had little reason to come here. Despite being called the headquarters, the building only held two things: the main terminal holding Computer's main system, and the facility that built the remainers' cybernetic bodies. For that reason, there was very little reason for Caleb to ever be called to headquarters, though Computer seemed to have finally found one.

Caleb walked into the main building as the doors opened automatically to let him in. The place was as empty as it was the last time he was here, with only machinery and robotics whirring quietly in the background. He ignored the machinery as he walked over to the end of the large main room, where a giant monitor sat flat against the wall, nearly covering it with its own surface area. On the screen's display was a familiar blue polygonal head, one that Caleb had seen many times now.

"Caleb. You're finally here. Didn't I ask you to come to headquarters right away?"

"I came here as soon as I could. You called me from pretty far away, you know."

That wasn't untrue; Computer had indeed called Caleb from all the way across the country, after all. That he had also taken a number of detours on the way there was not something Computer needed to know. It wasn't as if there was anything urgent about it, otherwise Computer would have just told him about it at the relay tower. If it wanted to complain about his timeliness, it had only itself to blame.

"So, what did you want? It's gotta be important if you wanted me to come out here for this."

"Indeed. First, a status report. Of the jobs I had for you, how many of them have yet to be finished?"

Caleb scratched his chin as he tried to remember what jobs he had to leave behind when Computer called for him. "Not many. Just a couple surveys at a few locations in North Canada checking the tundra biomes."

"Well then, as of this moment they'll be reassigned to other remainers."

"What?!" Caleb couldn't believe his ears. "Do you expect me to twiddle my thumbs for the next few weeks?!"

"Calm down," Computer said in its usual, unchanging emotionless voice. "I'm giving you a new job. One that's going to take up a lot of your time from now on."